


Rules

by Sys



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 07:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17463392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sys/pseuds/Sys
Summary: Joan and Sherlock decide to give having a relationship a shot?





	Rules

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ElasticElla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/gifts).



> Hi! If you received this story and don't like it, please just let me know. (Something along the lines of "No thanks" will do nicely. I'll be happy to remove it, so it's not associated with you any longer.) I hope you're having a fantastic New Year and that you and yours are safe, happy and healthy and remain thus.

She takes another sip from her teacup. It’s an interesting blend, sage, ginger, vanilla with just a hint of cinnamon. Just the right mixture of hot and sweet for a cold winter evening. It’s a good way to get warm again, but an even better way to avoid talking. To just remain seated with her legs pulled up comfortably in the armchair by the fireplace. The blanket’s a nice touch, too. She could probably go to sleep like this. But that wouldn’t be fair. 

No, she’s told him three months, and it’s pointless to draw it out further. It’s a simple yes or no question. Yet it’s anything but simple for them. There is so much that could go wrong. Even if it’s not a real relationship. Even if they just choose to cross that line once in a while. For comfort, for pleasure... with someone who understands that steady relationships don’t work. Not for them. Not in the way they do for other people.

“Yes,” she says, before she takes another sip. 

He looks up, surprised, and the moment of disorientation after two hours of silence endears him to her. It takes him a few seconds to do the math. And then he smiles. A small, awkward little smile that nevertheless reaches his eyes. 

“There will be rules.” 

His nod comes too quickly. Too readily. And part of her worries that he’s too eager to please her. That eventually they will end up in the same messy sort of relationship they’re trying to avoid, because he’ll outdo himself, daily. Pretend to mock romance the way he did when they first met... only to disguise that that might just be what he’s looking for after all. But they’ve had practice, taking a step back or two. More than most couples have when they enter any sort of relationship. 

“If you tell me any Mets results ahead of...”

“I did that _once_.”

“Twice. And that’s not counting the first time when you just had to show off your skills so I’d go out with you.”

“You’d already agreed to go out with me, and we were running late.”

“No scores before the game’s up.”

“Normal people discuss whether they’re interested in bondage and...”

She can’t help a small smirk. “I’m not sure if _normal_ people discuss bondage. And we’ve already done...”

“Not like that...”

“You trust me.” 

He looks up into her eyes, his smile a little fuller this time. Doesn’t confirm the simple truth behind those words. She isn’t always sure she should trust him. But he does trust her. Always has.

“Roleplaying?” He asks.

“Depends.”

“Only scenarios we agreed on.” 

“Maybe not as a first try.”

Studying him now isn’t as easy as it was when she just appreciated the sight a little. Innocently. Back in the days when she’d been sure they wouldn’t take that step. Before each time one of them had brought up that they couldn’t possibly try had brought back the question ‘why not?’, if unspoken. But appreciating the sight now is actually so much more within her rights, isn’t it? She could ask him to take off his clothes and he’d do it.

“Condoms?” Protection’s a given, but she’d rather not bother with anything chemical. Or invasive.

“Of course.”

“ _No_ comments on whether you think that I need to have sex.”

“You’re a doctor. You _know_ sex is good for your stress levels.”

Why even bother correcting the present tense again when he knows better? She sighs. “So is jogging. My body, my choice.”

“Okay...” The suit-yourself tone almost makes her bring up discipline. But you’d better be sure you’d actually enjoy handing that out before you consider proposing it. And bondage’s adventurous enough. For now.

“Do you think that’s enough for the first draft?”

“Are you going to use book metaphors to refer to our...” He pauses, clearly not sure if relationship’s the term he’s looking for. “...arrangement?” Really, relationship would’ve had the nicer ring to it.

“Does that bother you?”

He shakes his head. “Just as long as you don’t follow your stepfather’s footsteps. I prefer any stories about us... unrealistic.”

“I’d rather we kept _any_ details to ourselves.” And not share them with friends... or worse, family.

His nod’s earnest. Another essential agreed upon. Maybe there is hope that this might not be a disaster.

“Too bad that you’re too tired tonight.” 

Well, not a _complete_ disaster. But he’s refrained from bringing up her headache. And his concern for her well being is actually both a little surprising and a little touching every time it shines through. He can be really sweet about it. If they’re not in the middle of a case and he needs to pick her brain until well past the small hours. Or really until her body defends itself by simply going to sleep there and then.

She finishes her tea. Considers returning her teacup to the kitchen, but postpones that for now. Instead sets it aside on one arm, followed by the blanket that’s finding a new home on the chair’s other arm. And regrets losing the comfort as she rises. He follows her lead, either by instinct or because he is actually pretty good at reading people. So it’s little effort to stand, facing him, in the middle of the room. 

“I am going to hug you,” she informs him and he knows better than to argue with that. Not in a situation like this one. But he stiffens slightly, of course. For someone that comfortable with sex it’s really odd how complicated other forms of physical affection can be for him. It takes a moment, before he rests his own arms around her. Just one moment, not five minutes. Or never. And it’s good, really good. Almost good enough to forget about kissing him before she heads off to bed. But only almost.

She finds his eyes before she does. He’s likely okay with it. But she’d rather be sure. His lips are drier than hers. But it’s an okay kiss, for a first try. Bit awkward, because she can’t make up her mind if it should be sweet or hot... and unable to blend it as flawlessly as her tea was. But he’s matching her efforts. Trails a knowing tongue against her lips. A suggestion, nothing more. Not a bad idea, either. So she invites him in. Meets his tongue with her own. And that’s actually a lot better than she expected. Good enough to run an experimental hand down his butt. Only to regret ever so faintly that he is right that she’s too tired for more. 

He’s the one who’s wise enough to halt them. To step away, regret showing openly... one of the things she likes about him is that he won’t hold back about his feelings. Not around her, particularly. It can be annoying, of course. But in moments like this one... it’s good to know that he’d like to take this further. That he’ll want to take this further. But there’ll be a better time for it.

“Do you want me to wake you tomorrow?”

A new concept. Asking, of course. Not waking her whenever he sees fit.

“I’d like that.”


End file.
